Dr. Lesley Leighton

Conductor/Soprano I

Lesley Leighton, noted conductor, singer and music educator, is the Artistic Director of the Los Robles Master Chorale (LRMC). Appointed to the post in 2008, she has earned high praise from music critics for her “ravishing” (Los Angeles Times) conducting that leaves audiences “mesmerized” (Orange County Register) and merits “enduring applause” (Asia Journal). About one particular performance, the Huffington Post proclaimed, “The Chorale’s Lesley Leighton stole (the) show.” Leighton has had a tremendous impact on LRMC during her tenure considerably expanding the chorale’s reach and versatility. Under her leadership, the organization has more than doubled in size and budget; now includes exceptional singers from Los Angeles, Ventura and Riverside counties; and broadened its repertoire to include choral music of all styles. In addition to curating and conducting the choir’s own concert series each season, she has prepared LRMC for appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New West Symphony and American Youth Symphony, among others.

Leighton embraces a broad range of music, from the Renaissance to the Romantic Era, and is particularly dedicated to twentieth and twenty-first century compositions. A passionate advocate for music education, she inaugurated Los Robles Master Chorale’s annual High School Choral Festival in 2009, launched its High School Choral Leadership Workshop in 2009 as well and established LRMC’s Young Artist Choral Composers Competition in 2010.

In addition to her work with Los Robles Master Chorale, Leighton has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the world renowned Los Angeles Master Chorale, based at Walt Disney Concert Hall, for which she was named assistant conductor in 2010 and, a year later, was promoted to associate conductor, the first in the organization’s history, a post she held from 2011 to 2016. She regularly conducted the Los Angeles Master Chorale Chamber Singers and also created Los Angeles Master Chorale’s first Young Composer’s Competition in 2016, conducting the world premiere of the winning composition at the annual High School Choir Festival in April 2016 at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Additionally, Leighton, a “seasoned musician” (USC News), has earned tremendous respect within the music industry for preparing choirs for Gustavo Dudamel, Esa- Pekka Salonen, John Adams, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Bramwell Tovey, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Boris Brott, Marcello Lehninger and Grant Gershon for performances at the Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Royce Hall and Shrine Auditorium, among other major venues.

Leighton will be making her Los Angeles Opera and Los Angeles Philharmonic conducting debuts in the 2018-19 Season, conducting David Lang’s opera the loser, and his work for a 1000 voices, Crowd Out, respectively. She will also prepare Los Robles Master Chorale for Ojai Festival (Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Lang’s Crowd Out), New West Symphony (Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky), and San Bernardino Symphony (John Wineglass world premiere Voices of the West). Leighton’s other high profile conducting and educational posts include

serving as the interim director of choruses at the University of California, Los Angeles from 2014 to 2016; interim director of choral activities at La Sierra University during the 2013-14 academic year; and music director of New West Symphony Chorus from 2009 to 2011.

A principal solo artist for more than two decades, Leighton has performed as a soprano with many of the world’s eminent conductors, including Salonen, Dudamel, Tovey and Frühbeck de Burgos, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, the Lorin Maazel and Simon Rattle. Her opera credits include principal appearances with New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Köln Opera, Paris Opera and Glyndebourne. Her voice can also be heard on more than 85 major film soundtracks, including most recently, Alita: Battle Angel, Smallfoot, and Venom.

A native of Los Angeles, Leighton studied conducting with Paul Salamunovich at Loyola Marymount University, where she earned a B.A. in choral music. Following choral study at UCLA with Bill Hatcher, she obtained an M.M. in vocal performance with Judith Oas Natalucci and a D.M.A. in choral music from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Jo-Michael Scheibe.

Leighton was awarded the Order of Areté from USC, the highest honor accorded to graduate students upon completion of their academic programs; the Choral Department Award for Excellence from Thornton School of Music (twice); Remarkable Women Awards for outstanding achievement in a chosen field from the University of Southern California; the Raymond Moremen Award for Choral Excellence from the University of California, Los Angeles; and the Outstanding Achievement Choral Award from Loyola Marymount University.
Leighton is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the National Music Honor Society, Eta Chapter; American Choral Directors Association (ACDA); Chorus America; Southern California Vocal Association (SCVA); Screen Actors Guild (SAG); American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA); American League of Symphony Orchestras (ALSO); The College Music Society (CMS); and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).